The 50-cent fuel tax is not a new idea, but coming from auto-oriented people gets one's attention. I remember being pleasantly surprised in 1990, when the Blue Line light rail from Long Beach to LA opened, and the Auto Club (AAA) recommended taking the train to a downtown LA event. This was after years of "no on transit" propaganda coming from Auto Club publications. The LA Times for years had a negative attitude, going all the way back to torpedoing a plan to elevate the Pacific Electric tracks from the San Gabriel Valley and the Long Beach area back in 1925. One rumor had it that the Times received a lot of ad revenue from car dealers and didn't want to help the "competition". Now the Times is all for rail projects. So it looks like a lot of sinners are "getting religion". Hallelujah!

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